Is AAP’s ‘Make India Number 1’ campaign a bid to upstage Congress’ Bharat Jodo Yatra?

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has kick-started Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s ‘Make India Number 1’ campaign on the same day that Rahul Gandhi is flagging off Congress’ Bharat Jodo Yatra.

AAP’s nationwide campaign comes with an eye on the upcoming Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls, slated later this year, and 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Launching the campaign in his hometown of Hisar in Haryana, Kejriwal, flanked by Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, said India can lead the world but our system is broken.

“In the past 75 years, these political parties have done bad politics. If left in their hands, the country will remain backward for another 75 years.”

What is AAP’s ‘Make India No 1’ campaign? Is AAP trying to upstage Congress?

Let’s take a detailed look:

What is ‘Make India Number 1’

Under its nationwide Make India No 1 campaign, AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal will travel across states, hold rallies, youth meetings and tiranga yatras, as per Economic Times.

Starting the campaign from Hisar, Kejriwal will participate in a rally in Adampur.

He will interact with the party’s rank and file, address a youth sammelan and hold a tiranga yatra.

Elaborating on the reason for choosing Haryana for commencing the campaign, a senior AAP leader told ET, on condition of anonymity, “AAP is trying to build its party organisation in Haryana. The village level initiative of going door-to-do or to build party organisation has yielded a good response. The two-day programme of Kejriwal ji will give it further fillip.”

On Tuesday, Kejriwal had said in a video message, “A few days ago, we launched a programme – Make India Number 1. It is the dream of 130 crore people to see India become world’s number one country.”

Further, he apprised that after Haryana, he will visit other states and urge people to join the movement. “Now, there will have to be an alliance of 130 crore people. We have to work like a team, like a family. If it happens, then no one can stop us from making India the world’s number 1 country,” Quint quoted the AAP chief as saying.

During an event in Delhi’s Talkatora Stadium, Kejriwal had announced a number – 9510001000 — on which people can give a missed call to join the Make India Number 1 movement.

AAP’s national ambitions

With Make India Number 1 movement, AAP plans to dent BJP’s stronghold Gujarat in the coming election and emerge as a challenge to Narendra Modi in the 2024 general election, AAP sources told PTI.

लोग पूछते हैं- Can India Lead The World?

Why not?

हमारे पास Best Engineer, Doctor हैं।

System ख़राब है और इन पार्टियों के भरोसे नहीं छोड़ सकते

जब 1947 में देश इकट्ठा हुआ था, अंग्रेजों को भगा दिया था

अब No 1 बनना है, हर भारतीय को जोड़ना है

— CM @ArvindKejriwal #MakeIndiaNo1 pic.twitter.com/CkMURWcQ2m

— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) September 7, 2022

The party’s national aspirations have been fuelled by its recent landslide victory in Punjab and its entry into Goa where it bagged two of the 40 Assembly seats.

“The BJP-led central government has ruined the country’s economy by writing off loans worth crores of rupees to benefit the prime minister’s friends and also reduced the corporate tax but did not give any relief to the common people. We will tell people about the wrongdoings of the Modi government and their impact on their lives,” PTI quoted a party source as saying.

While interacting with the masses, AAP will stress on the necessity of imparting free education to children, improving the quality of government schools, providing free healthcare facilities, electricity and water as well as generating employment and livelihood opportunities.

Congress’ Bharat Jodo Yatra

Calling its mass-outreach programme a “turning point in Indian politics”, Congress has said the yatra “is meant for peace and not to divide”.

The grand old party is seeking to rejuvenate its standing in national politics with its Bharat Jodo Yatra covering 12 states in more than 100 days.

Rahul Gandhi, along with 117 Congress members, will highlight “economic disparities, social polarisation and political centralisation” during the yatra, PTI reported.

Earlier in the day, after attending a prayer meeting at Rajiv Gandhi memorial in Tamil Nadu’s Sriperumbudur, the former Congress president said in a tweet, “I lost my father to the politics of hate and division. I will not lose my beloved country to it too.”

“Love will conquer hate. Hope will defeat fear. Together, we will overcome,” Rahul said ahead of the yatra’s launch in Kanyakumari.

AAP’s attempt to outshine Congress?

AAP has claimed that Kejriwal’s campaign was always on the horizon and called the timing coinciding with Congress’ 3,570 kilometre padyatra a “coincidence”, Indian Express reported.

Dismissing Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, senior AAP leaders said it holds no significance. “The Congress is shrinking each day. With their MLAs up for sale in each state, they have lost relevance. Their yatra is of no consequence as people see AAP as the only viable opposition in states where the BJP and Congress were the dominant parties,” a party leader told Indian Express.

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today stirred controversy with his remark on Congress’ Bharat Jodo Yatra. “If they want to start Bharat Jodo Yatra, then Rahul Gandhi should do this in Pakistan. What are the benefits of doing this Yatra in India? India is connected, and united. I want to suggest Rahul Gandhi to take the Bharat Jodo Yatra programme to Pakistan,” Sarma told ANI.

Meanwhile, Congress hit out at AAP over its ‘Make India No 1’ movement, saying the Kejriwal-led party is imitating them.

Congress MP and AICC Delhi in-charge Shaktisinh Gohil told Indian Express that their fight is with the BJP and “it will remain with the BJP.”

With inputs from agencies

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